Nit-lock.



A. H. WBGENER. N UUUUU K. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP a.

1,096,666a Patented Apr. 21, 1914,

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[NVE/WOR ATTORNEYS ARNOLD HEINRICH WEGENER, 0F HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

NUT-LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914..

Application led .Tune 16, 1913. Serial No. 773,944.

To all who/m, it may concern Be it known that I, ARNOLD HEINRICHVVEGENER, a citizen of the ,United States, and a resident of Hoboken, inthe county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new andImproved Nut-Lock, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

'Ihis invention relates vto nut locks of an automatic nature. A

Among the objects of the inventiom Is'to provide an automaticallygripplng.V device for locking a nut to a bolt but whlch will permit theunscrewing of the nut under force applied thereto by means of a wrenchor the like without seriously. damaging either the nut or the bolt threaThe foregoing and other objects of the vinvention will hereinafter bemore fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings forminga part of this speclication in which like characters of reference1ndicate corresponding parts in all the views,

and in whichf Figure 1 is a transverse section of a bolt and its nut onthe line 1-1 of Fig. 2, and showing the locking device in normalosition; Fig. 2 is a vertical section substantlally on the line 2 2 ofFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the gripping .roller and thespring holder for the same; Fig. ltis a view corresponding to Fig. 1 butindicatln a slight modification; and Fig. 5 is a sImIlar view indicatinga further modification.

In carrying out this invention in a pracv tical embodiment, I provide abolt 10 having the usual form of thread and a nut 11 therefor having oneither of its faces, herein shown as its inner face, a cavity 12. Thiscavity 12 is or may be substantially crescentshaped and may be formed bya rotary milling cutter of any suitable form, the' radius of which is'larger than the radius of the bolt. The cavity which I prefer to make,however, in this connection, is preferably oblong or formed by themerging of two crescent-shaped cuts. Y

By virtue of the formation of the cavity 12 as just described there isprovided adjacent one end thereof a tapering space 13 in which a roller14 is' normally fitted and so held by a spring 15. One end 16 of thespring is secured in the wall of the cavity 12, preferably at the endthereof opposlte the roller. The other end of the spring is providedwith a stud 17 upon which is journaled said roller 14., and adjacent theroller is a shoulder 18 adapted to bear against the The spring, thereeperiphery of the roller. fore, has two points or places of Contact orengagement with the roller which increases the desired friction and alsothe strength and reliability of the spring. -The intermediate portion 19of the spring is bowshaped and extends practically throughout the lengthof the'cavity 12 and normally spaced from both the outer Wall of saidcavity and the bolt. The normal tendency of said spring is to `hold theroller in contact with both the bolt and the Wall of the cavity 12l sothat when the nut tends to turn in the direction of the arrow in Fig. l,the tendency will be resisted Aby the roller riding into the narrowerportion of the space 13. Movement of the nut in the other direction,however, is not resisted because the roller turns freely so as to bereceived in the wider portion of the space or cavity 12;

In devices of this character in which the locking means is substantiallyhidden from view when t-he device is applied as shown in Figs. l and 2,it sometimes occurs that an operator or workman, n'ot being aware of thefact that the nut is locked, will attempt to-unscrew it, causing damageto the thread or breakage of some part. In order to prevent thisobjection and also to make it comparatively easy for the nut to beremoved,

yet without interfering with the desired eHect of the automaticallylocking of the nut,

I provide apocket 20 in the tapered end- 13 of the socket and into whichtheroller may drop so as to be out of gripping en with the thread of thebolt when t e nut is turned under force for unscrewing it. The-rollerordinarily is made hard enough so that the nut may be unscrewedas just stated, the roller biting or digging deeply enough into thethreadedpart of the bolt to permit this action but Without doing seriousdamage to the thread or any other part of the device. l

agement In Fig. 4 is shown a modication Ain which instead of using apocket as a means for controlling the gripping movement or operation ofthe roller, I provide a space 13 which has slightly less taper than thecorresponding space in Fig. 1, but which is terminatedby a shoulder 20constituting a positive stop for the roller and enabling me to unscrewthe nut under force and yet giving suiicient wedging or binding actionunder normal conditions to prevent the nut from working loose of itsownaccord. The dotted line a in this figure represents the curvature ofthe com lete a' c corresponding to the curve 13 in tlib previous gure.The 'dotted line b in this figure indicates aline concentric with theaxis of the bolt and the purpose of this line is to showthe degree oftaperabove re-- ferred to and indicated at '13.

- Fig. 5 shows a 'slight variation in the form f of the stop '-l whichis more positive in its action than the stop. or shoulder-2050i Fig.

` 4:'.v The taper 13, however, issubs'tantially t se the. same asin thepreceding re and the 'action likewise is su stantlally e same withrespect to the roller and -means for controllin it.

aving thus described my invention, I

, claim as new and desire to secureiby. Letters Patent 1. Thecombination of a bolt having a thread, a nut threaded thereon, andlocking means for the nut comprising-a roller operating between the boltthread and a portion of the nut, said nut being provided with a taperedcavity, and means acting upon the roller to normally force the same intothe taper of said cavity, said nut being provided with means wherebywhen forcibly reversed the roller will cease its automatic grippingaction, substantially as set forth.

2; The combination of a bolt having a the thread, a nut threaded thereonand movable freely in one direction, said 'nut having a crescent-shapedcavity formed adjacent the bolt in one face thereof, a roller operatinin the tapered lend of, the crescent-shape cavity, and means to maintainthe roller in such positio .and in normal contact with both the bo t andthe outer wall-of said cavity, said nut furthermore being provided withlmeans whereby the gripping action of said roller is decreased when thenut is slightl unscrewed under force.

SMT e combination of a bolt havin a thread, a nut threaded thereon, saidnut e.- ing provided with a tapered recess adjacent olt, a rolleroperating in said tapered

